1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of nanofabrication. More particularly, the invention relates to nanotransfer and nanoreplication using deterministically grown sacrificial nanotemplates.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The fabrication of devices that function on the nanometer scale requires new approaches when standard microfabrication techniques cannot be scaled down. One such approach, the use of the materials such as carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers that self-assemble into nanostructures, has-been successfully applied in nanoelectronics. For example in electronics, use of carbon nanotubes has been suggested for the fabrication of nanowires and nanotransistors1, 2. The structural and dimensional properties of nanotubes can be exploited in scanning probe applications and in more exotic application such as nanotweezers17. Vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) that can be synthesized highly deterministically3-6, have been utilized in a variety of nanodevices such as VACNF-based electrochemical probes designed for intracellular characterization7 or gated cathode field emitters8.
Meanwhile, porous nanostructures and hollow nanostructures continue to be developed. A nanofabrication approach that has been proposed for construction of nanofluidic devices is to use templates made of sacrificial materials that are defined by electron beam lithography9. However, this approach is necessarily limited to the fabrication of nanostructures having shapes that can be defined by electron beam lithography.
What is needed is a more efficient approach to the construction of nanostructures (e.g., nanofluidic devices), especially arrays of such devices. What is also needed is an approach that allows the construction of elongated nanostructures, especially elongated nanostructures that are aligned perpendicular to a substrate or at a deterministic angle to the substrate.